Role playing servers will do strange things to a man’s mind. Some of the foolery and storylines that come pouring out of the minds of the narrators is borderline genius when it’s at its best. The other night I ran into serious roleplaying for the first time, I did not join in as tempting as it was. I just watched chat, and it sent me into a “DoubleUTeaEff” moment. I’d like to repeat from memory (and paraphrase) the conversation that took place:

[Girl]: My husband thinks I’m a whore because I had children and they weren’t his.

[Guy]: Awww, well if you get lonely you can come find me

[Girl]: I have twins, but I have to hide them due to embarrassment.

[Guy]: ……..

[Girl] He won’t believe me that I was *Graped* by a demon when I was sleeping and that’s why I had the children.

— Got out of range —

*Word altered for language*

Hmm, what to say…I guess I can start off by saying don’t take my anecdote and commentary the wrong way. I am in no way poking fun at role-players, if anything I’m praising them for having such….expansive minds. I guess I clung to the stereotype that role-playing would follow a very Shakespearian dialect or included lots of Little House on the Prairie conversations. Even the phrases spoken by the Waltons wouldn’t have made me shiver as much as “Miss Demon Baby” had. (God, pray for her children). I guess the game is more flexible then I thought, even 9th Gate Hell dwellers can track around Azeroth. (Did she and KJ get it on……nah, she was not prepared)

This exuberant story got me pondering about a few things that RPers have to deal with. I asked myself a few questions hoping I’d come up with a few answers. How does one cope with nameless guards? How does one cope with not all mobs dropping certain limbs? In terms of RP, what does ones character do while it is logged off? was the question that broke me. I can imagine endless reasons have been formed for this question. Still the question irks me enough to ponder, what do our characters do when we leave them somewhere? Here’s what I’ve come up with as the events that take place when I log off of Fealen:

He first goes to the badge vendors and looks at potential loot

The loot sparks his interest and he goes see the shirt vendor for a new shirt

Decided to get his hooves shined while in "Threads of Fate"

All this hard work has made him hungry, so it’s off for a bite to eat

He isn’t too bright so after food it’s a swim

Cramps disable him, to the medic it is

After much rest he is called back to fight, and his master logs back on

I just gave a nice example of RP, and I can assure you that Fealen didn’t speak one “thy” or any words with a forced “th” tacked on the end of it. There may not have been demon predators nor was there any conversation that would lead you to believe he was a sheep in wolves clothing working for some secret agency bent on retrieving codes, which could be used to rip Dalaran out of the sky if they got into the wrong hands. It was its own type of RP.

While Argent Dawn is a RP realm it isn’t as prevelant as you assume. High traffic areas or a select town with a certain feel about them is where it will hit you the most. Outside of those areas the game has a normal realm feel. So all you readers that have avoided joining SAN for the server type, don’t be scared, relish in the opportunity to set a story for your toon, and give it a personality. Remember, RPing is optional.

Tip: When RPing, try acting like an agent from a charity. You never know who’ll “give to the cause”, helping you make bank.